Vicente del Bosque has hinted that Aritz Aduriz does not have a future with Spain after revealing his three named strikers “represent our present and future”.
Calls for the Athletic Bilbao marksman to receive La Roja recognition heightened further on Thursday, when he scored his 100th goal for the Basques in a 5-1 victory over Partizan Belgrade.
However, he was again left out of the Spain squad for games against England and Belgium next week, leaving the Coach to suggest that the boat may have passed for the 34-year-old.
“[On Barcelona’s Halloween prank], this has already been addressed, but I’ll say that the players must be careful with their behaviour,” he said at a Press conference.
“[On Aduriz], I’m always watching him and he’s having a great season. We have several forwards and are going through a period of transition. That’s the main reason [for his exclusion].
“Javi Guerra, Ruben Castro, [Roberto] Soldado, Fernando Torres, David Villa, Borja Baston … There are many of them, and we’ve chosen three who represent our present and future.
“We’ve called up 24 players because we’re in a process of preparation and we don’t wish to leave anyone out.
“[Diego Costa’s] doing well and starting games. He took a small blow to a rib, but it doesn’t seem to be of any great importance and he can be with us.
“[England and Belgium] are two top teams. England had a great qualifying campaign, have great potential and will be very important once they get themselves organised.
“Belgium are still evolving. They’re No 1 in the FIFA ranking and have a fantastic team.
“[On France not calling up Mathieu Valbuena or Karim Benzema], every situation is different, Coaches make their own decisions.
“We all have opinions and [Didier] Deschamps’ decision has been taken for various reasons. Problems are solved when they happen, but I don’t know what I’d do.
“[Jesus Navas’] time hasn’t passed, neither has Vitolo’s for example. We have a limit [as to who we can call up] but no-one has been marginalised, especially Navas, who we have much appreciation for.
“[On only Jordi Alba being a specialist left-back] Azpilicueta has been playing on the left for his team, so we can use him there too.
“We also saw Mario Gaspar play as a centre-back for Villarreal [on Thursday]. We have some versatile players.
“I’m delighted with the work of [Xabier] Etxeita and Nacho [Fernandez], who did what was asked of them [in the last squad].
“They haven’t come this time around but are in our thoughts for the future.”
